Communication devices, such as phones and computers, execute software operating systems and software applications to control operations and provide communication services. Some of the operating systems handle action request messages, where the applications send action request messages to the operating system, and the operating system forwards the action request messages to the appropriate applications. In some cases, the operating system selects the applications to receive the action request messages based on the message coding and the requested functionality. In other cases, the operating system selects the applications to receive the action request messages based on the message coding and application filters received from the applications. If the coding of an action request message passes a filter from a given application, then the operating system passes that action request message to that application. The receiving application executes the requested actions based on the message.
For example, an action request message may be embedded in a web page processed by a web browser application. The browser can derive the action request message from the web page and transfer the action request message to the operating system, and the operating system could forward the action request message to another application. Thus, the action request messaging service provided by the operating system acts as a message broker between various applications. Examples of action request messages include Android intent messages and Blackberry content handler messages.
Many user communication devices exhibit performance issues beyond the ability of the user to fix on their own. For example, a user's service identifier that is stored in their phone in a locked manner could become corrupted and prevent communication service registration for the user. The solution is to unlock the phone and overwrite the correct service identifier over the corrupted service identifier. Unfortunately, many service providers do not want to provide the secret unlock codes to the users. This scenario may force the user to travel to a phone store that has the code to repair their phone, or to send their phone away for re-configuration. There is not an effective and efficient technique for using action request messages to remotely reconfigure a phone with user consent.